Low Vitamin B12 Signs Leading to Bad Health

Low Vitamin B12 Signs

Often when health is going downhill there are low vitamin B12 signs. That’s because low vitamin B12 levels affect the nervous system and/or the circulatory system. When you think about that, it’s not surprising that most early warning signs are related to these two huge systems.

In addition to these two systems being huge, they are very different. In view of the obvious difference between the nervous and circulatory systems, it’s not surprising that their signs of decline are equally different.

But, that can be confusing, and not just for you and your friend who have health worries scaring you.

Across the board, no matter which system is presenting you with low vitamin B12 signs, without healthy vitamin B12 levels the protective myelin sheath on nerves becomes damaged resulting in pain and any number of malfunctions.

The problem is, nerve damage is harder for doctors to see than red blood cells enlarged from vitamin B12 levels too low to support normal cell division.

Complicating matters, the low “normal” for vitamin B12 in the United States begins at 200 pg/mL, when enlarged red blood cells begin to be seen.

Consequently, almost any doctor you go to in the United States will look for enlarged red blood cells or a vitamin B12 level of 200 or below to diagnose “vitamin B12 deficiency.”

The fly in the ointment, is that the B12 level causing memory loss, depression and other nerve related problems, begins at 500-550 pg/mL.

Thus, for almost any doctor in the U.S., it’s an effectively nonexistent fact that vitamin B12 levels below 500-550 cause nerve problems like memory loss.

For example, after I was diagnosed with “profound vitamin B12 deficiency” a different doctor said I could not have vitamin B12 deficiency because I wasn’t vegetarian. For that doctor, the first and most important thing she looked for was a vegetarian diet. Anyone coming to her who wasn’t vegetarian, and therefore more likely to have enlarged red blood cells, would not have their low vitamin B12 signs taken seriously as a possible cause of illness.

While low vitamin B12 levels experienced over a long time appear to inevitably lead to blood disorders, not everyone will have the large blood cells associated with advanced deficiency or the disease of pernicious anemia.

In summary

Low vitamin B12 signs differ so greatly from established signs of vitamin B12 deficiency that many people with severe nerve problems from low vitamin B12 levels go untreated because their red blood cells show no signs of classic deficiency.

Finally, vitamin B12 and fingernails can be your roadmap to health. That’s because the wide range and confusing variety of low vitamin B12 signs are simplified on your fingernails. For instance, if your fingernails have ridges or are losing their moons these simple signs show low vitamin B12 levels.

Neurological low vitamin B12 signs

Low vitamin B12 signs may be neurological

Numbness in hands and feet

Ataxia, for example irregular muscular action

Impaired reflexes

Gait disturbances, for instance difficulty walking a straight line

Impaired vibration perception

Positive Romberg’s test: closing the eyes increases unsteadiness. For example, close your eyes and try turning in a circle – losing your balance is a positive result for the test and indicates low vitamin B12 levels

Summing up low vitamin B12 signs

As has been noted, initial low vitamin B12 signs are easily overlooked. Plus, early signs of anemia may be masked by folic acid or by iron deficiency. Neuro-psychiatric low B12 signs may be the earliest, most visible.

Common neurological signs are numb hands and feet, diminished perception of vibration and position, absence of reflexes, and unsteady gait and balance.

Psychiatric signs fall into several different categories: Confusion and memory disturbances are the most common. Depression and cognitive decline are frequent. Swings in mood and personality changes from low B12, if ignored, may become a psychiatric disease.

Low vitamin B12 signs are most often overlooked by healthcare professionals if the serum vitamin B12 concentration is within the reference range. Sadly, in the United States the low normal is hundreds of points lower than healthy vitamin B12 levels at which there is no memory decline.

Elderly are at great risk of showing low vitamin B12 signs. For instance, age-related stomach problems are common and may cause B12 levels to slide. Because the U.S. low normal for B12 is so low, this slide may go unnoticed for years, resulting in increased dementia cases.

Infants of vegetarian/vegan mothers are in danger of low B12 levels, even though their mothers may not have B12 malabsorption illness or show low B12 signs. This is because their rapid growth requires more B12.

Methylcobalamin can help

Finally, if your fingernails have ridges or you are beginning to lose your moons, give Methylcobalamin a try. After you start using it be sure to keep notes so that you can review how long it took for a positive change.

In 1997 the lines/ridges on my fingernails were the worst. I was unable to think; things “looked” unclear; things seemed hopeless; I tried to kill myself, and I had such horrible bone pain that it didn’t seem like it would make any difference if I immolated myself because of abuse by IRS. B12 changed all that! Karen Kline

Vitamin B12 and Brain Damage ~ I have found that stress coincides with lower vitamin B12 levels and an increased number of low vitamin B12 signs.

Stress can break you ~ Basically, under stress your telomerase, which is essential for longer telomeres, is decreased. To clarify, stress shortens your telomeres and short telomeres are related to illness and earlier death.

Professor Elissa Epel

Emotions, Stress and Rate of Telomere Shortening: Are Our Cells Listening to Us? by Elissa Epel, who documented the role of stress in telomere shortening, relates to all of us. Because Dr. Epel’s lecture is both scientific and at the same time clear in ordinary language, it’s easy to grasp her examples from studies. Watch the video.

Blaming yourself over and over for events which would be long past, except you keep them uppermost in your mind, is one of the biggest stressors that you face. Bring yourself into the present to escape self-blame that leads to shortened telomeres.

2 Replies to “Low Vitamin B12 Signs Leading to Bad Health”

Hi very interesting. Since Christmas 2014 I have had the most awful cough. Doc said it is asthma, not something I have had before. I have also had wheezing again not what I have experienced before. This comes and goes to the point I can be perfectly OK then in half hours time coughing and wheezing. My chest is clear it is coming from the throat. I started to do some research and discovered Metformin which I take for my type 2 diabetes, depletes the body of Vitamin B12. Coincidently, the doc told me to up the dose at Christmas 2014 from 1 to 2 tablets per day, so although at first, I never connected the two, I am now. Again I have read cough can be a symptom of deficiency but it rarely mentioned. My doctor agreed I could have a blood test to determine state of play and I am awaiting the results. I didn’t know about the ridges in the nails and strangely I do have ridges on two nails on my left hand but no ridges at all on the right hand. As regards seeing the moons I cannot ever remember seeing them at all apart from the ones on my thumbs.

I don’t think I’ll add cough as a symptom even though I have had serious coughs at the same time as very low B12 levels.

I have Metformin listed as a medication that is often seen being used by people who have a B12 deficiency. That, I think is more specific than coughs.

If you begin using Methylcobalamin sublinguals you’ll feel a difference. It’s a good idea to keep a “Time Line” with notes regarding Methylcobalamin use, B12 levels if you have tests, and symptoms. That way you will be able to see how it works. It’s useful later on to know about how long you will need to wait if stress or something else causes your levels to drop unexpectedly.